Egyptian steel producers have refrained from raising steel prices for the local market after the government introduced protective tariffs on imports.

Local producers have lowered their prices by between LE20 and LE250 per ton, while others have kept their October prices intact, the supply ministry reported on Friday.

Last month, the government imposed a temporary 7.3 percent tariff on steel imports after local producers decried a growing influx of cheap steel imports from Turkey and Ukraine, which, at the time, were LE400 cheaper than the average local product.

Some producers lowered prices, such as Medisteel which shaved LE150 off of its prices to reach LE4,950, and Delta Steel which lowered its prices by LE250 to reach LE5000, said the ministry's statement.

Ezz Steel, which controls some 55 percent of the Egyptian market, has kept its prices at between LE5,220 to LE5,320 per ton.

Solb Misr maintained its price at LE5,223 per ton, while Beshay Steel lowered its price by LE20 per ton to LE5,240.

Solb Misr and Beshay Steel, share 35 percent of the market.

The price cuts were are part of a gesture of goodwill from steel producers, to dispel fears that local steel prices would shoot up as a result of the decision, Mohamed Hanafi, director of the metallurgical industry's chamber of commerce told Ahram Online last month.

The government is currently conducting an investigation to decide whether to extend the tariffs past the 200 day period for which they were decreed.